Through Crystal
by Senescence
Summary: What happens when the Wizard's crystal ball does something it shouldn't?


Disclaimer: Game's not mine. I know, I know. Please don't be surprised. It hurt me more to deceive you than it hurt you.

This is a story I started before I even had the game, which my mom bought for me because I fell in love with the Wizard. Heads up for a bit of swearing. But you kiddies can handle that, yes?

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><p><span>Chapter One: The Cave<span>

Gale awoke with a start.

"Oh," was the first syllable he uttered to the absolute darkness. The cold, hard, stony floor of the cavern felt ominous beneath his back and fingers. "Wait..." he said aloud, his mind still so rattled that his own voice startled him. The past few hours flashed in his mind's eye.

There was the crystal. Yes. And the Witch. The Fugue mushroom. The carnage. And there was-

"-HIKARI!" he called out in the darkness, the sound echoing commandingly when he was actually feeling quite frantic. It should have worked. The spell should have worked. She couldn't possibly-

He sighed in utter relief when he heard her weak groan.

"Owwww. I hit my head..." By the sound of it, she seemed to be rolling over slowly. "It was hurting enough without you yelling into my ear."

"Sorry."

Gale couldn't help but feel all the tension leave his body as he helped her up. "I was afraid of the spell backfiring..." he stated. "You could have been pulled apart, intestines spiraling down one dimension and your central nervous system another... you wouldn't even have a head to hit."

"Mmm," she rubbed her cranium. "Lovely, that thought. Thank God you knew what you were doing."

Hikari looked around, presumably noticing that it made no difference whether she closed her eyes. "Where are we?"

"I think..." said Gale, noting the moisture on the wall nearest them with his fingertips, "we're at the Watery Cave. Which is probably the safest place to be, considering the circumstances."

Hikari punched his shoulder, eliciting a little "ow!" from the magician. "I knew you'd get us out of there! Way to go Wizard! That tele-whatsit spell worked like a charm!"

"But now we must find a way back." He frowned. It would be dangerous and messy, but it was the responsible thing to do. After all, it was _his_ crystal ball - _his_ slip up - that started this entire survival-horror drama in the first place.

"Ohhh! We don't have to go back there!" she wailed. "It's not like anyone really cares about our health... much less our presence." Gale remembered that the last person he saved her from was the usually sweet Candace. The seamstress-in-training had been chasing Hikari around menacingly with a pair of scissors.

"Of course they care." He suddenly felt morbidly amused by the irony in his answer. Gale's voice was the same monotone it had always been, despite the precarious situation, the implications of which were obvious enough.

Nonetheless, it would never do to panic.

"They're just not themselves yet. We need to find the crystal ball, make it withdraw the curse, and hope that it didn't damage their original forms... I wish we knew what level we're on. Do you know? Haven't you been here before?"

"I have," she answered sulkily, "but there's no way to tell without a light. At least the path's still here." She felt the walls of the cavern and the manmade wooden beams that lay against it. "Not that we're taking it." Then, suggesting cheerily, "Why not stay and enjoy the darkness until morning, when they're tired from wrecking the town and sound asleep?"

Gale grabbed her hand and pulled her as he walked. "Because we don't want the curse to root deeper into their hearts. If that happens, changing them back... would be a lost option."

Hikari groaned loudly. Even without psychic talent, it was obvious she was about to make a long complaint.

"The biggest catastrophe on Castanet and you want to go back? Up there? To the surface? Where everyone's gone raving mad like caffeine high zombies?"

She flailed her arms around, pulling Gale's right arm along with the action since it held her hand.

"With all due respect, oh Wise, Long-lived one, even with your good looks, hair braid, eye tattoo, and - and - magical prowess, I can guarantee that once we step out of this cave, you'll find that you won't be so immortal after all, and every aforementioned wizardy accoutrement will be obliterated like - like my sheep's love after a shearing."

Gale firmly held his arm down to prevent her from dislocating it, deciding to ignore the very sound warning she gave if only to suppress his own faithlessness in the undertaking.

She was right. If insanity had a face, it'd be his mutilated corpse... hung at the center of Harmonica Town... with the townspeople dancing joyously around it.

"That was the most impressive and emphatic prose that I've heard from you in all our years of friendship." He stated flatly. "Great job."

A pause. Then, frustrated, "Why- you- ohyou'rejustso- guhhhhh!"

He could feel her flailing around beside him.

"Hmm... Not as impressive, but good try."

"Do you _want_ to die?"

"Of course not... But that doesn't mean we're ignoring the situation."

"We're not... _ignoring_ it... just taking our time on it. A nice, steady pace, you know? Because haste makes waste. And I really don't want my life to be wasted."

"There is no time for a 'nice, steady pace.' If that crystal corrodes any of their trapped spirits, all hope may be lost."

"Okay, now you're just talking in hyperboles."

"I wish I was."

"You go back. I'm staying. To... watch the cave and... make sure it's stays Watery."

"That's fine..."

"..."

"..."

"A-are you serious?"

"...Do you even have to ask?"

"You mean 'don't you know me well enough to know that I'm always serious'? See, that's the thing. The better question is if you're still sane."

"Completely sane and logical, thank you."

"Logical? You're going back _alone_. Look, at least _I_ carry around sickle wherever I go. What do you have? Your hair braid."

He sighed. "And my good looks, eye tattoo, et cetera. I can deal. In fact, I'm glad you volunteered to stay... It's better that you are here where it's safe."

"...I'm scared."

"Don't be... If I die, I leave you no obligation to finish my work as you are very poorly equipped for such an undertaking. "

"Right."

"If the situation turns drastic, and I am either incapacitated or in any way close to death, don't come back for me."

"Will do."

"Just steal Pascal's ship and sail far, far away from here. Forget all about Castanet and start a new life elsewhere."

"You got it."

He fell silent.

"...I want you safe ...but somehow that upset me."

"I think I know how Finn feels."

"..."

"The way he always tries to stop me from doing something reckless. But this time it's reversed. You're me. I'm Finn. God this sucks. I want my old position back! Give it back, Wizard! It's not yours!"

"You want to go up there and restore them? Be my guest."

"Yes I do! I just wish it wasn't so goddamned dangerous."

"Don't swear. It's not becoming of a young lady."

"I can swear as much as I like, old man. Especially when it won't even matter in the next hour."

"So pessimistic today," he sighed, rubbing his temples to ward off an impending headache. "Do you have a hormonal imbalance or something?"

"NO I DON'T!" She yelled. "I just really, really, _really_ don't want you to face an entire mob of people singlehanded! When I said I was scared, I was scared for you! And I'm not really going to stay here and let you go up there alone, if you actually thought I was even considering that.

"..."

"Wizard?"

"Hm?"

"You idiot."

X

Perry had seen nothing of the like. The scene expanded before him a distorted nightmare. Smoke and burning fish invaded his nostrils. He was almost in tears.

"Wh-what is happening?" he murmured. No one could hear him as he watched Yolanda javelin-throw a grilling fork and nearly skewer a hapless collie. She cackled.

"Wh-what's going on?" he whispered, as he beheld Shelly mount the clock tower, raising a purple and pink flag and screeching a spine-chilling war cry like an escaped banshee.

"E-everyone? Wh-why are you doing th-this?" he felt dizzy and faint, as he watched the Mayor walk leisurely up to the rooftop, smoke billowing and red lights flashing behind his portly frame, whose original cerulean blue garments were now a form-fitting black with silver spikes. Dark sunglasses on his nose glinted in the fading sunlight.

Mayor Hamilton grinned.

Evilly.

"At last!" he announced in a booming, carrying voice. "The Summer Festival begins!"

Perry turned. Stumbled. Choked. Mayor Hamilton's evil laughter echoed in his ears. He prayed to the Harvest Goddess, his tears now freely pouring. He needed a sanctuary from this inanity. So he aimed for the safest place he knew. The church. The church might offer some safety.

Perry ran.

X

X

X

"Ouch."

"Tripped on something?"

"Yeah, your idiocy... Shit, that really hurt."

"..Sometimes I can't imagine how you manage a ranch all by yourself... without falling over a bucket and getting trampled by cows and dying."

"Takes practice," she answered, as he stooped to her kneeling form.

"Wet... Is this water or blood?"

"I think... it's blood."

Wordlessly, he bit into the sleeve of his coat and tore a strip of cloth. Then he wound it about her knee carefully. Hikari was tense but still. He imagined her biting her lip to ignore the sting.

Gale stood. "Can you walk?"

"Yeah."

He helped her up, one hand supporting her by the waist and the other clasped onto her left hand. She was tense in his arms. Then she shrugged him off awkwardly to stand on her own.

Gale grabbed her hand once more. This time she didn't pull away, though the tension did not seem to leave.

They were silent for a while. At length, she spoke thoughtfully. "Have you been in a situation like this before?"

"Dark... cold... dangerous? Many times."

"Oh. How old _are_ you anyway?

"I lose track."

"You must be very old then."

He looked in her direction considering her tone, then gave her hand a little squeeze. "And wise... with all that 'old man smartness' as you like to call it... So trust me."

He figured she looked at him back; it was still too dark to see.

"I do." She said. "But the plan..."

"Your new role is important. I'm counting on it."

"I'll do my best."

"I know you will."

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><p>Surprise fanart! By yours truly :)<p>

http : / / plainred . deviantart . com / # / d3fu4n8


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